Despite being well ahead in the polls for the government of Bahia, the former mayor of Salvador ACM Neto, one of the chiefs of União Brasil, will face a very strong PT campaign to undermine his candidacy. One of the focuses of the local PT members, who have as a candidate for the succession of Rui Costa the still unknown Jerome Rodrigueswill be to associate the representative of Carlism with the president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), a kind of reverse electoral cable in the Northeastern states. Now more distant, the two have become allies in recent years – but Neto now wants to distance himself from national polarization.
As VEJA shows in this week’s edition, the candidates supported by Squid in the main electoral colleges in the region still skating in the polls, even with the presidential candidate sweeping the current president in the polls for the Planalto. “ACM Neto has a good image as a former mayor of Salvador and the memory of his grandfather’s name (Antônio Carlos Magalhães) in the countryside, which makes this election more difficult than others. But he never did anything for the state and, no matter how hard he tries to dodge, he will not erase his Bolsonarista connection, we are going to explore that”, says an important PT member.
Neto’s weak point lies in the nationalization of the campaign. Even when he is presented as “independent”, a position he holds today, he loses strength in the polls. Jerônimo Rodrigues, in turn, shoots when he is associated with Lula.
Another obstacle for the former mayor’s campaign is the robust PT machine in Bahian lands, with more than 300 allied mayors in 417 municipalities and big shots such as Governor Rui Costa and Senators and former Governors Jaques Wagner and Otto Alencar, the latter of the PSD. The troop will be used to defend the legacy of the four terms – two of Wagner and two of Costa – played by the political group in the state.